muay thai

thai kickboxing

LOL, love your description!!  That sounds painful!!  I can't believe you lost your lunch too.  Sounds like an eventful class! 

My Monday class was good.  I know what you mean about the time when you are tired.  There are times when I don't think i'll be able to breathe anymore and I think that there is no way it can only be 30 seconds because it feels like 5 minutes.....I do the same thing 'okay, i know i can hold out for a couple more seconds'.  It's funny how some days you have the energy and other days it's really hard.

Well I hope you get to go to sparring class again.  I will live my sparring experiences vicariously through you, until of course I get to go to my own class (i'll have to make a comment about it tonight).  I'm looking forward to improving and learning more.  That's cool that you can do fight class next week, that should definately improve your technique...watch out Train!  I love working on the bag too, i'm so glad i got one for home.  I use it a lot.  I hope your schedule doesn't prevent you from bag class, that sucks that your schedule changes all the time.

I'm not sure what you should do about the stiff thing.  Its hard to say 'just relax'.  I hate to say this but maybe yoga or some other type of stretching might help not only because it will help with flexibility but it really will help you to relax in general.  I think I tense up a bit around other people as well.  I have been getting better though.  I think the same, that i'm more fluid when i am alone.  I think now i use that mindfullness thing to just block everything out and then i just pretend like i'm home practicing.  There's been a couple times when I went to class and I was the only student.  Its good because you get individual training, but OTOH they definately see you when you mess up and then I start to get nervous.  Monday class the instructor was getting on us about following through on our punches.  I'm sure as time goes on you'll get more comfortable too.

Well I'm looking forward to class tonight, although I'm having a headache right now which I think has to do with the impending rain, I'm sure i'll feel better later.  You have fun tonight too!

LOL -- yeah, Monday was definitely eventful.  Yesterday, too -- we had a sub, and he about halfway killed us.  He was a great guy, though, and actually gave me some really fantastic pointers that have dramatically improved my kicks.

Yesterday was one of the 'other days it's really hard' days for me.  First, I ran out of Singulair; forgot my inhaler -- one of those mistakes you rarely make, since it's self-punishing, LOL!

Then we spent roughly half the class doing very kick-intensive combos, LOL ... The only punches we did were jabs and crosses -- and I don't mean, like, "jab-jab-cross-jab-cross," or anything: just, "jab-cross." 

We started with "jab-cross-low kick," then proceeded to "push kick-jab-cross-low kick," and then to "push kick-push kick-jab-cross-switch kick switch kick" and then to "push kick-push kick-kick-jab-cross-switch kick-switch kick-round kick" and then we did nothing but kicks for an entire round, LOL.

Train had some kind of time conflict thing -- I think it was one of those parenting emergencies or something, since he actually did show up for class, but got a call on his cell and had to split.  He gave me his apologies, though.

This meant I wound up working alone for most of the class, which was, on one hand, a little intense (in other words, my lungs hated me hard throughout the whole class) but OTOH meant I got some freaking awesome one-on-one instruction (and a whole lot of, "I know you can kick harder than that," LOL!).  Basically, this meant that instead of switching back and forth with a partner, I worked straight through every ... single ... freaking ... round, LOL. 

BTW, three straight minutes of doing 3 low kicks, 6 low kicks, 9 low kicks, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, etc ... wow.  I would say it sucks, except I'd do it again, right now, if I had a heavy bag in my cube, LOL.  So I guess it's more like, "It sucks in a good way," LOL.  I'm big on 'sucks in a good way.'

OTOH, I totally hear you about that whole, you get the individual training, but they definitely see every tiny little mistake you make, LOL!  That was totally how it went last night.  "Your jab needs to hit harder.  Step out further on that low kick.  Faster on the switch kick.  Harder on the switch kick.  Harder on the low kick.  Good!  Get up on your toes more..."  Come to think of it, instruction like that every class would rock.

I also wish every class was as tough as last night.  Trey usually works us pretty freaking hard at least twice a week (Wednesdays are usually a little less intense), but this class was even a step up from those ones.  I sweated my butt off last night, but I feel freaking AMAZING today.  Plus, there's something to be said for being pushed so hard physically that you forget you're shy/inhibited/whatever :D

 I've realized that Trey makes me marginally nervous as a function of the fact that I just kind of automatically have this 'I'm not worthy' thing around him.  Train kind of has the same effect -- I think because he has this kind of fatherly way of talking to me.  Both are also older than me, and I get all Japanese about figures of authority and people older than myself.

Our sub last night was about my height and age and very laid back.  He made me work like nobody's business, but the work he did with us was extremely effective, and I really liked his approach.

You know, yoga might not hurt, and it's good for developing that kind of 'stable' strength (the kind you use when your substitute Muay Thai teacher makes you do the plank position for two minutes after doing fifty crunches ... oy vey).  I wouldn't mind doing yoga, even if I just did it a couple of times a week or something.  Plus, the more I'm around groups of people, the more I'll get used to being around groups of people. 

I'm weird about that, I've realized -- I'm cool performing by myself or as part of an ensemble on stage in front of however many people you want to throw in an audience, and likewise in one-on-one situations, but I find it marginally daunting to be part of a group.  Apparently, Brian has the same sort of thing going on.  I guess it's also worth noting that my difficulty being part of a group disappears if I'm in a position of relative authority (teaching a group of beginning horseback riders or something similar), which makes me suspect that it may be a specifically-delimited form of performance anxiety.

For the record, I didn't have time to be self-conscious last night, and I felt much more fluid, LOL.  I also found that once I started nailing some really good kicks, I was more able to relax.  I'm going to try to bring that feeling to class on Tuesday.

I have also found that I'm very capable of channeling the feeling of being pi$$ed at myself into more effective Muay Thai, LOL. 

At one point, our sub said something like, "Good, now faster," and I almost said, "I can't," got profoundly mad at myself (both for almost saying "I can't" and for creating the precondition to almost saying "I can't" by forgetting my medication) and turned out several fast, hard, beautifully-executed combinations :) :) :)  That made me feel better, of course, so I started feeling kind of drained again shortly thereafter, LOL.  Go adrenaline!

I also applied that principle to doing skip-knees while coughing my lungs up, LOL -- when I wanted to give up, I decided to get mad at the bag instead.  That worked for a while until I got that, "Oh, crap, I'm about to pass out," feeling, at which point I backed off as much as was neccessary :)  I've had a couple instances of fainting due to excessive exertion when my asthma was out of control, and I didn't really want to go there, LOL!  I love my gym, but I suspect I would probably never live down being the guy who got knocked out by a bag.

I will absolutely keep you posted on sparring, if I get to spar on Saturday.  I'm looking forward to breaking out my "New, Improved" push kick on Brian, for one :D

Speaking of Brian, I must admit I am somewhat jealous of Brian at the moment.  Trey is apparently moving in with Brian and his room mate, and they're planning to convert half of their garage into a gym.  Basically, this way they all save money on rent and stuff, and Trey's going to do much of the cooking (since he knows how to cook healthy food) and train Brian in Muay Thai pretty much daily.

I wonder if they want yet another room mate?  I would be happy with a medium-sized closet, as long as I can bring my cats, LOL!

Oh, btw -- you mentioned that in your Monday class, your instructor was on you guys about following through on your punches.  I am working on that as well, so if you come up with any effective strategies, let me know!

Right now, my basic solution is "get pissed at the bag," LOL.

Sounds like you had a great class, sounds like fun! I love doing kick combos but they do take a lot out of you.  Another one of those 'looks easier than it is' things.  I hear you about working alone.  I actually like to work alone.  usually when there's an odd amount of people, i get to work alone.  I do take a short break in between but it really knocks you out doing it alone.  Not sure how you managed without your singulair! that's nuts...definately not a good thing to pass out in MT class!  haha, you'd never live that down!

I love the individual training but they do see every little thing and if my brain isn't working properly i tend to mess up on my combinations (probaby because I'm nervous but I've gotten much better at that now) and that just makes me laugh! I love the get your toes up more, we get this too and I actually asked how this was possible.....  I'm not sure my toes can bend in the way they want them to bend! LOL It does suck in a good way, i know exactly what you mean.  I wish every class was a tough class and I wish I was drenched after every class - now that's an awesome feeling.  It's really invigorating. 

Funny thing about those push kicks, once you grasp the concept, they are pretty cool!  Good luck trying it out on Brian!  And thats cool (for him anyway) that he can move in with Trey, but I hear you on the jealous part!  I'd be jealous too, how cool would that be to have a personal instructor to show you things in your own home!! Cool.  I hope you get to spar again too.

Well my Wednesday class was good.  I noticed that on Saturday class we used the mitts with a partner, and then on Wednesday we did some no contact sparring*.  I was wondering if he wants to add some of this into our regular classes and not make a sparring class. I'm really getting concerned about this....anyway after class was over, I asked one of the guys in my class if he had heard anything about sparring and he said no, so i told him we have to ask (I was hoping if the two of us asked maybe he would get a move on it).  So....as I was leaving, the master asked me if i had fun and of course i did have fun, i always do, so i felt this a good segway into the 'what's going on with that sparring class'.  He said they were working on it and he had to get some prices on head gear and shin guards (we would have to buy our own).  But, he said that two weeks ago when he first mentioned the sparring class.  I don't think he'd just blow it off, he's probably looking for an open slot, which i don't think they have any....hmmm.  *The no contact sparring was alright, at least it gets you moving your feet around.  I'd prefer to be able to actually try to land a punch & a kick than to NOT try to land a punch. 

I figured I'd start with a suggestion :)  I would feel horrible, too, if I began to feel that my gym wasn't serving my needs, for pretty much the same reason (love the people, etc.); but I would definitely think that after a certain point, you'd be justified in saying, "There are goals I can't really meet unless I can spar with some people who are serious on a regular basis."  It's entirely possible to outgrow your teacher -- I had this happen as a kid, with riding and with violin.  I was lucky, in both cases, to have awesome teachers who knew when it was time for me to move on, recommended where I should go to continue improving, and remained good friends and allies.  However, it doesn't always work out quite that way.

I think you could do one of two things -- either contact one of the other gyms, and see if they'd let you and some of the guys who want to actually fight come in once or twice a week for sparring practice (I have a feeling they might understand the whole situation with having a contract with a gym that isn't meeting your needs in that way); OR maybe you guys could sort of organize and approach the folks that run your school as group and see about finding some way to get a sparring class going.  You could even order your own gear -- we basically spar in shin- and mouth-guards and gloves; headgear is optional.  Shin guards can be had for not much, and mouth-guards run from disturbingly cheap (like $1) to freaking pricey for a tiny piece of plastic (like $50).  Maybe if they see that there's a real interest there (not to mention a possibility of losing some dedicated, advanced students), they'll get their act together WRT sparring.

OTOH, if they don't, it might indicate that they're shifting towards a focus on the exercise folks rather than the folks that want to fight.

Yah, Wednesday class was great :)  The kick combos do add up after a while, LOL.  OTOH, that's a good thing -- what doesn't kill us, etc!  Working alone does have its benefits -- you don't get held up by someone slower than yourself, etc., and you get a more continuous workout (though we usually trade back and forth quickly enoguh that it amounts to more or less one continuous workout anyway).

And ... yeah, LOL -- passing out would kind of suck.  It would suck less in bag class than in sparring or the fight class, though, LOL!  The bag class crowd is a little less hard-core.  The fight-class crowd would undoubtedly give me a nickname like "PassOut Boy" or something :D

I hear you about messing up combinations under the whole one-on-one situation.  I tend to mess mine up when Trey is training me, which is so weird, since I felt so freaking comfortable with the guy on Wednesday! 

LOL -- yeah about the toes, too.  I mean, my feet are pretty strong, and pretty flexible, but ... ???  I do, however, really need to get my Achilles tendons to loosen up some.  Biking makes them tight, which is neither good for MT, nor for horseback riding (hard to get your heels down with tight Achilles tendons).

Also, I have come to totally <3 push kicks.  I didn't get to try mine out on Brian yet, though (more on that below).

I am now fully medicated again, which is good -- I wound up having to take an extra hit off my inhaler during bag class, but I think that's just a hold-over effect from going without Singulair for a couple of days.  My lungs are not forgiving of exercise without medication, LOL.  OTOH, that's part of why I opted to go to class -- my hope is to be able to improve the recovery time of my lungs. 

The rest of my body is delightful in that regard -- I pretty much don't get sore, unless I actually manage to hurt myself, no matter how hard I work out.  I consider this some kind of gift -- LOL, maybe it's intended to make up for my general lack of coordination, or something :D

Yesterday, I got to do both bag class and sparring.  Bag class was intense, but not quite up to the level of the class the other day (Trey was back), though we did 2 extra rounds of jump rope/push-ups/squats.  Okay, come to think of it, I say fairly relaxed -- I kind of forgot about the part at the end with the medicine balls ... LOL.  We did a round of knees with them (which were FIERCE once Brian explained how I should, as someone who actually wants to fight someday, be doing them -- feel the burn about covers it, LOL!) and a round of walking lunges with them. 

I now <3 medicine balls as well and am thinking about getting my own to play with at home.  During the 'bag' portion of bag class, I trained with Brian and the Marine (I think I mentioned him once before: the guy has to be 70 at least, is a retired Marine, and could probably destroy many of the younger guys in the gym -- maybe even all at once, LOL -- in a fight), which was cool.  I want to be the Marine when I'm 70.  He's charming, funny, patient, and does ONE HANDED PUSH-UPS LIKE WHISTLING DIXIE.  AT 70.  OMG.

Sparring was ... um ... hard, actually.  We worked with Alex Stiebling, who trains MMA guys at Core and is freaking serious.  OTOH, I like that.  He just makes you work, and I'm a sucker for that.  Also, he's a professional fighter, which doesn't hurt: he brings that to his classes, and it makes for one hell of a workout.  I like the way he handles the sparring class -- since Saturday is combined sparring, you can get MMA guys, Muay Thai guys, and boxers in there, so if it's a mixed group, he works to make it applicable to everybody.  I think the sparring coach rotates from week to week, which is cool, because there literally everyone who teaches at Core is worth learning from.

Yesterday, we had a lot more guys (mostly MMA; one Judo guy; three or four Muay Thai guys, including me) basically focused on clinch work.  It was my first time, and I discovered that while I suck amazingly hard at clinch work (to be expected, I guess :D), I hold my own relatively well strength-wise.  This made me happy, since I'm scrawny and always will be, and most of the guys I worked with were both bigger and significantly more experienced than I was (there was one MMA n00b in class, but Alex tries not to put the n00bs together, since we don't stand to learn anything from each-other except how NOT to fight, LOL).

Oh, also got punched in the face like eight times, LOL.  I do not object, however, to learning the hard way.  And I did manage to block some shots, too, which leaves me feeling relatively satisfied, since I was concentrating more on trying to learn how to do something I've never done before.  And trying not to hurl, which I ... um ... mostly avoided, except for one rather dramatic episode.  Thank God the men's room is right next to the Muay Thai room!!!!!!!!!!!  Maybe next class I'll just bring my own bukkit.

In other news, I learned that losing your lunch is more or less par for the course for anyone who trains even remotely seriously at Core, as a side-effect of the fact that they work us H-A-R-D.  I think if I ever set up my own gym rating forum (a la Bullshido's), I'm going to include 'frequency of training-induced vomiting' as a measure of intensity, LOL.

Apparently, this happened to Brian the first three times he rolled with Soneca (our BJJ coach) -- and pretty much everyone else has their own lunch-loss related war stories (who knew?).  Also, apparently, most ppl don't rinse off and go back to class afterwards.  I feel significantly better about it, now, since it happened to me again for no apparent reason yesterday.  I didn't take a heavy bag to the nuts this time; I think I just overexerted myself.  The dude I was sparring at the time was freaking ENORMOUS and knew what he was doing.  He also socked me hard in the gut, but I don't actually think that's what did it.  I did, at least, manage to hold out 'til the end of the round.

LOL -- does horking during your workout count as 'healthy weight loss and sustainable weight management?'

I definitely think no-contact sparring has its benefits, too -- but, yeah, I hear you about the wanting to try to land strikes rather than working to not land them.  I have heard plenty of horror stories about ex-TKD guys who decided to learn something else after getting in their first real fight and discovering that they automatically pulled their strikes without even thinking about it.

Anyway, definitely talk to your buddies at your gym, see about organizing a 'Let Us Spar' protest march or something, and talk to the other gyms you mentioned -- I really think they'll probably understand what's up, if they're worth their salt.  Core inevitably tends to attract refugees from gyms where people don't actually hit each-other, LOL, and they're very cool about it.

I gots to go for now!  Good luck!

I was talking to my husband about it too, and he seems to think I should give the guy time to make up a class, it has only been 2-1/2 weeks (i'm anxious).  So I was thinking waiting about a month. 

Saturday class was pretty good.  We did some new defensive combos which was hard to remember.  It was cool because one person did offensive and one did defensive.  I don't mind the no contact sparring and it is very helpful to move around and not just stand still but, you know, I'm just upset that I want to do the other, haha, and, I'm usually not happy with the partner i get.  I guess that's why i get upset.  its hard when my partner fans herself because she is getting warm (did i mention the long sleeve shirt underneath the tshirt) when I am drenched in sweat....

I'm glad you love push kicks now and medicine balls!  Funny I was just thinking of getting either a kettle or medince ball.  I don't get sore either.  I was mildly sore after my first class but that's it.  I strength train 3 times a week and i stretch every day so I attribute not getting sore to that (plus all the other exercise i do - i'm a work-out-aholic - addicted to endorphins - i'm not kidding - i'm an endorphin junkie!). 

Sounds like saturday was cool with both bag and sparring class.  Sounds hard with the medicine ball.  Cant believe Marine can do one handed push ups that easy.  I'd like to do that, i've tried the clapping push up but it ends up hurting my back, once in a while a try the one handed one push up but i can't do it.  My shoulder injury really put a damper on things, my right arm still isn't as strong as my left yet.  Its getting there though, still not able to do as many push ups as i did before.  I'm hoping that if I keep this MT stuff up that I'll be doing push ups at 70 too!  The sparring sounds tough, but like a good workout, sounds like you learn a lot quickly, and it sounds like you have a lot of great instructors.

At least its normal to lose your lunch during class, haha!  So nobody can make fun since you do rinse off and go right back to class, although passing out might be a different story!  LOL

So tonight should be a good class, i always like monday classes!  I'll talk to the guys and sick them on the master regarding sparring.  I'll keep you posted on my MT/sparring saga!  Have fun tonight!  Let me know when you get to practice those push kicks on Brian!

You know, it sounds like your husband is a sensible guy :)   I think he has a good point.  I am also an impatient type -- 2.5 weeks seems like forever to me when I'm waiting to find out about something, LOL!  I wonder if MT specifically attracts impatient people?

You have a good point about ppl not showing up for fights.  Is that more of a problem in women's events, or does it happen about equally with both the men and the women?  I find it so perplexing ... I have trouble understanding how you could work as hard as we work in class and not jump at the chance to test your skills against someone else, LOL!  I do know what you mean about there not being as many fights for women, though.

I keep wondering why there aren't more women competing in the martial arts -- even in TKD the ratio of women to men at tournaments I attended was usually like 3:1.  I try not to get all social-sciency about it, but sometimes it does seem like American culture kind of embrances male fighters of all disciplines and just doesn't know what to make of female fighters (LOL, maybe it's easier for me becaus I have an older sister who used to kick the tar out of me as a kid).

I have noticed that the conditioning class has a lot of ladies in it, but the sparring class rarely does -- there's a 15-yo girl (who is awesome, btw), and she sparred with us my first Saturday, along with her Mom, who got into MT through her daughter (my kind of family!  LOL!).  This Saturday it was 100% guys.  Likewise, the fight class is something like 8 or 9 guys to each girl.

Come to think of it, though, there are a fair number of women in Krav Maga -- I think because it is generally understood to be an effective self-defense system, which gets people in the door. My friend Robert's ex-gf does Krav, and explained it like this: "The goal is basically to screw the other guy up in any way possible enough that he doesn't want to mess with you anymore."  Of course, this caused Robert to suggest that I perfect my abilty to barf while fighting and take up Krav Maga, since he's pretty sure that nobody wants to continue fighting you after you hurl all over them.  Come to think of it, remind me to kick his butt next time I see him, LOL.

Maybe what Muay Thai in the US needs to attract more female fighters is some better PR, LOL -- "Yes, MT often looks like a bunch of guys kicking each-other in the head, but did you know it also gets you amazingly fit and works for SELF DEFENSE???"  You know, stress the self-defense and fitness angles, and then, before they know it, people will become hooked and find themselves looking for someone to fight (in a ring).

Basically, I think the numerican discrepancy boils down to the fact that women and girls aren't expected to like fighting, so A) a lot of women don't immediately think of something like Muay Thai when they decide to take up a sport or get fit and B) maybe a fair number have to contend against the feeling that they shouldn't enjoy it so much, or something like that?  People in general seem to have this weird, Puritan-derived hang-up about anything that feels good, and women seem to get the worst of that.  I can definitely see how that combined with lifelong "It's not nice to hit people" conditioning could become discouraging.

LOL on the one-handed push-ups -- I can't do them either, but I also hope to be doing them at 70!  There's a long term goal, if ever I saw one!

I do have awesome instructors...  Core is fantastic.  I feel really lucky to live in a city with a gym like Core, though I don't know if I would've had the chutzpah to just walk on in if I hadn't met Brian first.

I prolly won't do class tonight, as I seem to have an ear infection :(  I suspected I might yesterday when I discovered my ears were ringing, LOL.  I could cope with the pain, but the dizziness has me on the ropes, LOL.  I will see the doc this PM and get it checked out, and I'm also going to take a solid dose of sudafed to see if I can get my head to clear up.

Tuesday's class should be interesting -- I hope I won't find myself both blind and deaf!  I had to train without my glasses on Saturday, and had no idea much of the time what Alex was trying to show us, so I would wait for my partner to pass it on to me, LOL.  OTOH, it's easier to focus on the guy you're training with when you can't see more than six inches away, LOL!

LOL, yeah it was funny when my husband put it to me that way...i was like, you know it's only been two weeks, and when i heard myself say it out loud, i was like....wow, that's not long at all!  so, i'm just impatient but at least i found some back up places that i can look into.  i'd prefer to stay where i'm at, i know they like me, and i think i could probably teach or assist there somewhere down the line.

As far as ppl not showing up, i think its a women thing, i've never heard of this with men, just women.  I've read up a lot about womens MT and MMA.  I know that UFC (or Dana White specifically) has said numerous times that he will never have women in MMA basically because they have a hard time making weight.  Now I have seen this before so it seems true for some women but not all women.  I've heard that maybe they will have a women's MMA fight in WEC only when a good female fight comes up though.  Apparently there aren't enough women in different weight categories to carry women fighters (makes sense).  Also, I've read on message boards that a lot men don't really like to watch women fight.  Even the Atlantic City fights I see advertised, I've only seen one female fight and it was one of the top female MMA fighters, there are only a handful of them.

I think as MMA becomes even more popular it will get bigger but who knows, really, how many ppl want to see bloody women (oh, you must look up on youtube kim couture's first mma fight, i think it was against somebody named rose - she bled through most of the fight and afterwards said her jaw was broken by the first punch)

So what's the different between sparring and fight class?

You know I have read that most women who do MMA, MT, boxing, etc...they all say the same thing, they started for fitness and then fell in love with it, mostly the focus of it all, and how nothing else matters, and the confidence, etc (i know you get it)....and this is how i feel too.  i didn't expect to love it as much as i do, quite surprised by it actually.  But, in my class, i do see women who are clearly doing it for exercise, probably because their kids take TKD and they also want to learn the self defense but I don't think they actually want to fight at all just exercise.  So there are ppl who aren't getting the same love for it that i have, nor do they want to get injured probably.  I think it has a lot to do with society like you said. 

One handed pushups LOL, i can't even figure out how people do this, i must try again, its been a while but i can't see how i could possibly hold myself up without falling over on my side...hahahaha

Well that's good that Brian turned you on to Core, sound like a great place.  I hear you... i'd never have the chutzpah to walk into a place like that either!  Better not mess with the ear infection, you might fall over from dizziness and that wouldn't be good.  We have a guy in class with glasses and sometimes he must hit the arm or something and they fly across the room....it is so funny (they don't break of course because that would not be funny).   Sucks that you can't see!  Well I hope you feel better!

There's a lot ot be said for sticking with a place you know -- and I know what you mean about saying something like, "It's been two weeks," out loud and suddenly going, "Oh, wait ... LOL ... it's only been two weeks."

To answer your question, LOL ... we seem to shorten the names of everything at Core, so the Muay Thai conditioning class becomes "bag class" and the Muay Thai skill training class becomes "fight class."  "Fight class" is more or less the class where you focus on technical aspects and learn those -- pad and target training, tweaking your form, strategy, and so forth.  There's some sparring in fight class, but also drill work, conditioning, etc.

"Sparring class" involves contact sparring at different intensities and what you might call "sparring drills" -- where you break out one portion or another of the stuff you need in a fight and practice that (like clinch work, or kick play).  The last couple weeks, it's been pretty much just sparring drills because of the attending noobs, LOL.  Normally, there's a lot more actual full-on sparring.

So, basically, you could differentiate the three classes based on the likelihood of getting punched in the face:

1 - Bag class: unlikely, barring the occasional self-punch :D

2 - Fight class: reasonably likely, but not 100% of the time.

3 - Sparring class: If you're not getting punched in the face, it's probably because Trey's leading the class and has decided that we're going to pretend we don't have arms for the moment, so you're getting kicked in the face instead (unless there are n00bs present).

WRT women and making weight -- you know, I have noticed that when I look at the fight records for women from my gym, they're pretty much bouncing back and forth within a range of classes becaues they have to in order to fight -- like, there's no guarantee that there will be an opponent in your own weight class, so you have to adjust accordingly.  I would think that would be more challenging than what most guys do (train a few pounds heavier, then drop a few pounds for the fight) -- do you think that could be where the idea that women have trouble making weight comes from?

I also wonder if the weight classes haven't caught up with the size of modern women -- on the balance, guys haven't gotten that much taller over the past twenty or thirty years, where as women, on average, do seem to be a lot taller than they were even twenty years back, if you look at statistics.

You also have a good point about people not wanting to see women getting all bloody -- though, personally, I'm happy to watch anyone fight :)  I do think, like you said, that as MMA gets bigger, maybe more people will kind of catch on to the idea.  I guess it might also take people realizing that women are tougher than they get credit for, and that you can be a tough fighter in the ring and still 'feminine' outside the ring (for whatever that means, LOL)!

I guess, in a way, that's kind of not dissimilar from my own goal -- I think people assume there simply aren't any gay guys in hard martial arts, and I'm pretty sure that if I told most other gay guys that my primary passion in life right now involves getting hit in the face, they would ask, "Why would you want to do a thing like that?" Next time I run into one of those, I should simply invite him to train and hope he catches on :D

IMO, a lot of gay guys assume guys who are into stuff like kickboxing, BJJ and so forth are hyper-macho tools ... which isn't really how things break down, in my experience.  I mean, yes, there is a degree of hyper-macho (LOL), and there are those d-bags that everyone can't freaking stand (most of whom seem to be pretty much all talk) -- but the guys I know who actually fight are all pretty cool people.  I guess it's at least in part because if you've made it to even one amateur fight, you've probably already been knocked down by people better than yourself like a hundred times.

LOL -- speaking of flying glasses, that happened to me my first class.  Trey was like, "Um, why don't I put those over here for you?"  I got an eyeglass-retaining strap after that, but my cat nicked it off my gym bag and deposited it somewhere in the attic, so now I have to get another one.  I'm probably going to get Lasik either later this year or early next year -- it would be so nice to be able to actually see without glasses, and of course I have to take them off for contact sparring, which puts me at a disadvantage (to some extent, anyway).  I want to wait 'til I'm at a point, though, where I feel like I could take a couple weeks off from training without turning into a big pile of jello and losing what meager skills I've gained :D

That's cool that you have 3 different classes that you can go to. They all sound great!

That's exactly the reason women jump classes all the time - there aren't that many.  It has to be hard to go up and down like that all the time, especially because you don't want to lose muscle and if you gain you want to gain muscle.  Definately sounds more challenging.  I don't know if that's why women don't make weight, it could be. I don't know, it doesn't make sense.

I wonder how they determine those weight classes.  I actually like women fights, sometimes i think they are more exciting.  women usually only get 3 two minute rounds so they get right to it.  None of this feeling each other out stuff.  I know there is one fighter that used to be a playboy bunny, she took up MT for fitness and then decided to be a fighter. 

Well I'm sure there are some gay guys in martial arts, we probably just don't know who they are.  I don't see what being gay has to do with it (or anything else for that matter).  People are people, I'm glad you don't let what other people think or say change what you do.  Basically, why would anybody want to get punched in the face, gay, straight or female!! LOL!  My husband was laughing at me the other day, he says just wait until you get into that sparring class and you get hit and i said, its not gonna happen because i'll duck and slip-haha (wishful thinking anyway)!  You should invite others, i bet they'd get hooked too.

Yeah i think it is a misconception that you have to be really macho or tough to be into kickboxing and BJJ.  i guess once you get knocked down a bunch of times it humbles you a bit. 

My husband was thinking of getting the lasik but he hasn't yet, i guess he doesn't want to get his eyes cut, can't blame him.  He plays drums and his glasses slip off a lot so he can't wear them.  he got contacts just to wear when he plays drums but he doesn't like them so he just goes without glasses.

How much weight have you lost so far?  Sounds like you are doing well.  I love this CC site plus, my work hasn't blocked it yet!  Keeps me busy during the lulls.  Hope you feel better.

Yeah, the classes at Core rock ... if I ever manage to go again, LOL.  I was still too dizzy last night.  Brian advised against doing the Muay Thai class while still unable to stand up without listing to port, LOL.  (Specifically, he said, "You'll get killed.")  I don't like missing class, but I guess I'm likely to prolong this stupid ear infection if I overdo it.  Grr.  However, I'm feeling a bit better today (I actually felt relatively human this morning, as opposed to yesterday morning, when I just wanted to roll over and die), so I will take one more night off and then hit the Muay Thai class tomorrow night.  It's only 1.5 hrs on Thursday, anyway, as opposed to Tuesday, which is a 2-hour class, so it will help me ease back into things (for values of 'ease in' equal to 'probably won't kill me' :D).

Yeah -- I definitely think being in a position where you have to jump from weight class to weight class would be hard, especially when you have to drop a class or two just to be able to fight -- and even more so considering how little fat most fighters carry around (I, OTOH, could drop, like, three weight classes before I started losing muscle, LOL).  I guess the formula for determining any kind of weight class must be some kind of well-guarded mystical secret, LOL -- I don't think I'd be able to do it. 

First off, mine would wind up with names like, "Short, skinny guys," and "Short, skinny gals" through "Huge, Buff Dudes" and "Iron Ladies" (which, come to think of it, is the title of a Thai movie about a cross-dressing volleyball team -- but that's neither here nor there).  I guess I would qualify for the "Medium height, slightly-tubby new guys who don't really know what they're doing" weight class, LOL.

You have a good point about womens' fights: women fight hard, fast, and intense.  They are definitely fun to watch.  I think they also tend to do the sportsmanship angle well -- at least the ones I know of.  There are a lot of guys who do it right, too, but I think a good few could stand a few lessons in losing gracefully, LOL.

I feel about the same way about watching high school basketball vs. college basketball -- in college ball, there's a lot of tossing the ball around, and it's usually a lot slower; in h.s. ball they run up and down the court looking like feeding time at the shark tank (especially around here, where Basketball is right after the Derby in our local pantheon).  It's much more fun to watch (even though I really have very little idea what's going on, LOL).  Once in a while you get a good grudge match in college ball, like UNC vs NC State, though, and it looks like a hockey game.

I guess my angsting about the lack of gay guys in martial arts is that I find myself feeling like an alien when I try to interact with other gay guys, LOL.  I actually know of one other at Core, but I don't know him personally -- he's one of the BJJ guys.  There's a disconnect on something like a cultural level -- like, my priorities and value system are totally out of sync with the rest of Queer America, LOL, whereas they seem to fit in nicely with the folks at Core.  It's something I've been pondering -- partially because I have that academic bent and I'm always curious about things, and partially because it would be nice to actually have a boyfriend again some day, LOL.

I love the fact that in martial arts and boxing, it doesn't matter who you are; it only matters how hard you train and how much punishment you can take :D  I also think it's cool that the toughest people out there are usually the humblest -- the girl at my gym who's got 2 world titles is one of the nicest people on earth.  LOL, I guess when you know that, if pressed, you can probably kick the living daylights out of 99% of the human race, you don't need to act tough.  Maybe that's what it really boils down to -- you don't have to act tough if you are tough.  And, then, there is, of course, the humbling effect of getting pwnz3d, which seems to be an integral part of learning.

You know, I hear the whole thing about not wanting to get the ol' eyes cut.  That's part of what has kept me from getting Lasik thus far -- the worry that Something Might Go Wrong.  OTOH, I know a bunch of ppl that have had it done, and none of them have had trouble, so I'm trying to talk myself into it.

I used to have contacts, and they were kind ofa PITA, but it was nice to be able to use my peripheral vision and so forth, LOL.  I've thought about getting them again, but I'm afraid to wear them to the gym -- basically, I'm worried that if I get socked in the eye, they might injure my eyeball somehow.  Or just split in half.  Once I forgot to take mine out and fell asleep, and when I opened my eyes the next morning, the contacts

I've lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 or 15 lbs -- mostly since I started training, LOL.  I do think I'm doing pretty well.  I hear you about CC -- things have been quiet here at work recently.

One more thing -- speaking of being tough or not, Bullshido.net has declared this to be Muay Thai month, and I've been really surprised how many ppl are like, "Yeah, I'm too much of a sissy for Muay Thai," LOL.  And these are guys that do BJJ, etc, who could easily hand me my butt under pretty much any circumstances.  I found that really surprising, because I don't think of it in those terms (except maybe to the extent that it takes a certain degree of chutzpah to be willing to get kicked in the head).

Is Muay Thai really that KILLERMACHODINOSAUR (the term for uber-bassad that's being bandied about on Bullshido, LOL) in most people's eyes?  The thought of li'l ol' me learning to be a KILLERMACHODINOSAUR cracks me up.

Well at least you are feeling a little better already, and you are better off not going to class, especially if it was 2 hours!  That's nuts!  I know when I'm sick I always feel better after 2-3 days on antibiotics.  Hopefully you'll be ready for tomorrow's class. 

LOL on the weight classes.  I have to admit the 'Iron Ladies' category is quite scarey.  Some of these big girls are rather intimidating. Its funny with women because you can see some girls who are 5'7" and weigh 115, then you see some girls 5'3" and weigh 145.  So I don't quite get it.  You would think it would be the other way around.  Maybe there is something to the women not making weight. 

That sucks that you feel that your priorities are out of sync, although I don't think it's your priorities, i think it's the other people.  Do you feel that the martial arts/MT prevent you from finding somebody?  I hope not, that would suck. But then again, if somebody doesn't like you because of something that you like to do then that person isn't for you.  It's funny I've been taking martial arts classes for a year and I think I've only told about 2 people that I work with (only because they said I was in good shape and asked me what I do other than walk at lunch time).  I guess I think they would antagonize me with this information, LOL.

Yeah it is cool about martial arts and how it doesn't matter who you are, just how you train really.  I agree you don't have to act tough if you are tough.  Its funny because my husband said that I would have to psyche myself up to get angry to spar with somebody and I have to explain that it's not an anger thing for me, more of a skill thing. I told him I'd be the person high five-ing the other person if they made a good move.

My husband never liked the contacts either, and he would forget to take them out all the time.  I've known people who got lasik and never had problems too. Scarey having the eye cut, not sure I'd want to do it either.  But, these days it is pretty common surgery.

That's great that you lost 10-15!  This site is great, keeps me busy reading all the community boards.  This is the time of year my work gets busy (spring summer months) but i think this summer is going to be slow.  I am a graphic artist and I do a lot of layout work (which is tedious and time consuming) but this year is appearing to be going slower than usual so maybe the summer will be slow too.  i don't care as long as i have a job and health benefits!

Yes Muay Thai month!  I also thought I read something that March 17th is Muay Thai Day.  Don't remember where I saw this, but I'm sure it was sometime last year.  I think Muay Thai is KILLERMACHODINOSAUR in people's eyes.  I don't see it that way but i think others do....cracks me up too!   I can't believe the BJJ guys say that about MT, that's funny.  I think that BJJ is intimidating.  I'd rather try to duck a punch than to have somebody potentially pull my shoulder out of its joint.  I think anyway.....not really sure

Watch....I'll go to sparring class, get clocked and go...no way this isn't for me...haha, i don't see happening but you never know... now that would be funny (well not really but kinda)!

Oh this is interesting...My husband has a friend of a friend who just started fighting pro MMA.  So he asks the guy where he trains...he told me about a couple places, one of which is MMA just for guys (surprise) and the other place is owned by Kurt Pellegrino who is a UFC fighter.  So I checked the website, appears he has a women's kickboxing class during the day (hmmm....sounds geared towards house wives).  Not sure if it's a tae-bo type workout, although that's what i'm thinking.

Well it's almost time for my lunchtime walk.  Hope you feel better soon!

LOL ... I finally decided that I'm doing class tonight -- it's just bag class, after all, and I can take a breather if I get too woozly.  Basically, I mentioned to Brian that I probably wouldn't be doing class tonight, and he gave me that level stare and said, "Well, you'll do whatever's best for you."  LOL  Nothing is quite as motivating as the un-expressed disapproval of a respected gym-mate :D

You have a good point about women's weight variations -- I hadn't thought of that before, but you don't see that as much with men (maybe because there are more of them in MT and boxing and stuff, so the anomolies sort into appropriate categories where they don't seem so odd, or something).  A lot of the girls in the bag class are the long, lean kind -- the 5'7"/115 variety -- and then we have a couple tanks who are around 5'3"ish but built like brick houses. 

I think if I were one of the long-lean girls, I probably wouldn't be super-eager to go up against one of the 'brick house' girls -- you know, I might have more range, but they can probably take a beating, not to mention catch your kick and break your leg off, LOL.  I have this theory that most skinny people can't take as much punishment, because it hurts when ppl hit your bony parts, but OTOH, I'm bony even when I'm fat, and I have about the highest pain threshold of anyone I know (I guess that goes along with 'great recovery time' as 'things that make me slightly better suited to intense martial arts than your average uncoordinated geek).

This reminds me of one time Cameron (my roomie) and I were horsing around in the park.  I threw a TKD-style roundhouse kick at him, which he caught by wrapping his arm around my ankle, and then he proceeded to try to wail on me, only to discover that the length of my leg put me out of striking range for him, LOL ... so we went on for a while with me hopping around at leg's length trying to escape and him pounding on my shin with his free hand and trying to trip me.  This eventually ended in a draw.  (Then there was the time I tried to do one of those Jean Claude Van Damme moves wherein someone grabs your leg and you use your momentum to kick them with the other leg ... I did manage to land a weak kick with my free leg, shortly before landing on my face, LOL.)

Among the guys, height and weight seem to correspond a little more -- at my ideal weight, I should really be between 140 and 150, though I could (and possibly should, LOL) fight at 135.  I guess that's actually reasonably light for a guy my height, but then, I wouldn't be the only 5'9" lightweight in my gym, anyway; and if I fight welterweight, I'd be about average, I think.  The bigger guys are mostly taller, with a few exceptions (Brian, for example, is a few inches shorter than me, but built like Cam -- he would have to be anorexic to weigh less than about 175, I think; he's 200ish now).  Then again, it could be that the odd-sized guys tend to self-select out after a while, or something, and we just don't really notice because there are always a lot of guys willing to do KILLERMACHODINOSAUR things like Mauy Thai, LOL.

LOL on feeling that it's not my priorities, but the other people.  I kind of feel like that, too, but didn't want to sound like too much of a judgmental "Everyone else is the problem" jerk :D  I realize that, to a large extent, I make the bed I lie in -- I could choose to be more compromising than I am, in some areas.  OTOH, I don't think I'd really be happy if I did.  I guess I'm also an anomoly -- basically, I'm your nice, submissive, domestic boy that likes fighting, hunting, and fishing, LOL.  Come to think of it, I'm not really what you'd call "submissive," either -- I'm stubborn as a mule, in fact; what I really mean is that I like to make people happy.  I suspect the combination of these traits makes peoples' heads hurt.

As for MT preventing me from finding someone -- hm.  Good question.  There are definitely guys out there who abhor violence and somehow don't have the ability to understand that when two people mutually consent to slug it out in the ring, that's not the same as, say, having a bar fight, or beating up the weaker kids in the school yard.  It's the "all violence is violence" mentality ... and, meanwhile, those of us in the martial arts don't even necessarily really think of our arts as 'violent,' so much as ... um .. errr ... 'uninhibited,' perhaps?  LOL

I also think there's an unfortunate association between the harder martial arts styles and bullying -- which, really, is an association that those of us doing things like MT and kyokushin don't necessarily see, because most real bullies can't hold their own on the mats, so we just write them off.  Basically, I'm the biggest n00b alive, and I feel absolutely no compulsion to run my mouth.  I know I'm a weenie, and I'm fine with that -- but there are people who know they are weenies, aren't fine with it, and have to prove it by hammering on the helpless.

Meanwhile, non-practitioners just see bullies using 'martial arts' to hurt weaker people, and assume we're all like that, because the rest of us are too busy training to stop and say, "Oh hai, I'm a good guy, and I can has Muay Thai, and I can kick that moron's butt from here to Cleveland for you, if you like."

Gay culture is ... er ... screwy, to say the least.  It has some good elements -- like rampant creativity, appreciation and maintenance of artistic tradition, and a goodly degree of belief in sticking up for everybody's rights -- though this last bit sometimes descends into victim-mentality whinerism.  Likewise, there's a lot of folks demanding that their rights be respected, while dumping on others' rights ("I should have the freedom to say whatever I want -- but Somebody should make the preacher on the corner shut up, because he makes me uncomfortable").  Admittedly, though, this is a fairly universal problem: you get the religious fundamentalists, for example, that believe that they should be able to have religious TV shows, but don't want gay characters on TV.  IMO, free speech more or less means we're allowed to disagree with each-other, and can't force people to shut up just because we don't like what they have to say.

Modern American gay culture is also rife with hedonism and narcissism ... there was a period that I used to go dancing several times a week, simply because I like dancing, and I became something of a fixture at the club where I used to go, and after a while realized that's really what I was: a fixture, like the pretty Art Deco stuff on the outside of the building or the neon things over the bar.  When I tried to get to know my fellow club-goers as people, I found we didn't really have much in common.  (For the record: The Canadians seem to do it a little better, from what I've seen -- though I could be biased; my Mom's family is from Canada and I <3 Canada hard.)

The thing that eventually drove me crazy was all the guys who would go on about how much they hated the gay 'scene' without really doing anything about it -- I wound up being like, "If you hate the bar scene, why are you at the bar?"  But I think it's easier for people to talk about changing than to change, so not much real change happens.  I reached a point, after a while, where I just pretty much ignored everybody else, LOL -- I was just there to dance, so it wasn't like I had to make friends.

So, what it all boils down to is that while I don't think that martial arts in particular makes it any harder for me to find someone -- at least, I hope not!  LOL -- I do think it's an expression of the things that make me a really awkward fit in the gay community.  I respect self-discipline, both physical and mental, directness (even though I vacillate between excessively blunt and so circumspect in my conversation as to be described as 'Japanese,' LOL), hard work, and the desire to transcend limitations.  I also respect people who aren't afraid to get hit in the face, LOL.  My gym is a good sorting device for that sort of thing -- they work us hard, so people who don't really want to work tend not to show up more than a few times.  Maybe I should propose that as a first date, next time I meet someone interesting:

"Come train with me.  It'll be fun!*"

*For values of fun equal to intense, demanding exercise that leaves you exhausted when you're done.  This does not constitute a guarantee.  No future obligation expressed or implied.

I have a feeling if you get most gay guys alone, they're not as shallow and narcisstic as so many of them seem -- but the surrounding culture is terrible, and therefore I flat out refuse to take part in it, which limits my opportunities to meet people, LOL.  So in a way it's my own fault.

This is the one downside, I think, of being gay -- straight people can pretty much assume most people are straight, LOL, and feel free to ask out those who interest them with a certain degree of comfort, whereas a polite gay guy has to first figure out if the person he's interested in leans that way ... LOL.  And even if it's true that 1 in 10 people is gay (not sure I really believe that), that still makes it statistically less likely you'll run into another gay person unless you're in a specifically gay venue -- and then, if you do run into one, chances are he already has a boyfriend, LOL -- especially in Louisville.  I don't think I've ever lived anywhere with as many long-standing, well-established gay couples.  On one hand, that's awesome; on the other hand, it does seem, to paraphrase a common complaint of the fairer sex, that all the good ones are either taken or straight.

Likewise, a lot of gay men are very much aligned with the sort of dominant consumerist culture in the US -- the buying-things-and-watching-TV-to-try-to-be-ha ppy culture -- whereas I'm 100% about doing things to try to be happy.  Basically, I have realized that as long as I can train, I will be happy.  I guess that's part of the difficulty -- I know if I were most guys (and weren't into Muay Thai), and I was interested in a guy and he said, "Well, you'll probably see me no more than once a week, unless you want to join my gym," I would probably be like, "Well, you're cute, but what's the point if I'm never gonna see you?"

Basically, even if every other gay man on earth said, "I won't date you because you do Muay Thai," I would still do Muay Thai, because it's important to me. 

OTOH, if I met another single gay guy who did MT, or even something like BJJ, I would probably marry him tomorrow, LOL.  We could have a wedding registry with items like "his-n-his heavy bags" and "lifetime supply of Mexican hand-wraps."  Do ringside.com or cageside.com offer wedding registries?  If they don't, they should :D

WRT your husband's view about having to get angry to spar with someone else -- it surprises me how many people actually think that!  I'm totally with you on high-fiving someone who pulls off a good move.  When Brian nailed that nice little teep in my gut, it made me grin -- both because I was impressed with him and because I didn't have the M4d Sk1llz to block it, LOL. 

Besides, getting whupped is a great way to learn -- I believe it was Sun Tzu who said, "There are a thousand lessons in defeat: victory offers only one."

Likewise, there's that whole thrill-of-the-fight thing -- I think some people find it hard to believe that fighting can be an enjoyable activity.  Even as a kid, though, I liked fighting -- then, I've been known to be an adrenaline junkie (anyone who is skiing double diamonds by age twelve is pretty much a default adrenaline junkie, LOL!).  I, by extension, find it hard to understand how someone could not enjoy fighting.  This is one of those things I try to simply accept without understanding it, LOL, kind of like how everyone else on earth likes cheesecake.  I don't understand, but who am I to judge?  :D

And I love that there's something frankly very honest about fighting -- barring performance-enhancing drugs, it boils down to nothing but fitness and skill.  It's not like a lot of other sports, where the guy with the more expensive equipment will almost always win (this is even true, to some extent, in horseback riding -- a top-notch show hunter can cost upwards of $100,000; a world-class eventer can be astronomically expensive). 

Basically, if you lose in a horseshow, it's possible you're losing simply because you can't afford to spend money on a professional trainer and a polished, high-end horse (this is more true in the Junior divisions, really -- adult amateurs are usually true amateurs who are in it for the love, not the ribbons).  But if you go to fight and you lose, 99% of the time, it's because the other guy (or girl) was better than you -- the other 1% are those times when you were just tired, or not feeling well, or the judge was on the other fighter's payroll, or whatever.

Meanwhile, you can't buy skill in Muay Thai or BJJ, for example -- you can pay for quality instruction, but even then, you have to do the work, or you might as well just throw your money out the window.  Likewise, you can't buy the kind of fitness it takes to hang in there for the duration of a fight -- you have to go out and work for it.  And while I don't know that I buy the whole "Martial Arts will necessarily make you a better person" idea (IMO, you get out what you put in, just like computer programming, LOL), it certainly does mean something, I think, to know that you've earned the progress you've made.

And, then, even quality instruction in martial arts is cheap compared to quality instruction in a lot of sports.  I started at my gym paying only $50 for my class 3 days a week, plus access to the fitness center with personal trainers 6 days a week; now I'm paying $110 because I stepped up my level of instruction.  $110 a month is less than a lot of people pay for cable (speaking of which, I'm seriously thinking about dropping my cable TV service -- I have not watched TV in AGES, since Monk and Psych are off the air and Mythbusters doesn't seem to be putting out new episodes; and I have Netflix if I want to watch shows).

Considering that my gym has produced some awesome fighters, and that I can theoretically do class six days a week (which means I'm still paying about $4.50 a day for top-notch instruction), that seems like a very fair price (and almost makes me feel vaguely guilty, since I know there are ppl paying more than that for McDojo memberships all over the place).  And that's not even accounting for the fact that there are days I can do two classes (technically, every day, if my schedule were set up to allow it).

Riding lessons around here run $25/each or more, though there are a couple places where you can do a partial-lease with lessons included for around $300/month -- and a partial lease only gets you three days a week to ride ... so in terms of sheer access, martial arts seem much more democratic.

Not that I need to tell you all this, LOL!  Um.  Maybe I should hop off my soapbox for the moment?  (Sidebar: I think it's funny that almost everyone alive is too young to actually know what the 'soapbox' in the idiom 'get up/down on/off your/my soapbox' is, but for the most part, we never think about it.  LOL)

Yeah ... Lasik is so run-of-the-mill these days that it's begun to seem commonplace -- I guess if I'm ever going to actually fight, it will quickly become a necessity.  LOL, do they have a special weight class for skinny guys with glasses?  Sign me up for that, I'm on my way :D

Graphic artists = awesome!  One of my best friends from when I was in HS is a graphic artist.  She used to do awesome stuff.  She moved to Philadelphia, and we kind of lost touch, but I assume she still does.  I wish more places would higher graphic designers and the like -- especially the ones who also grok interface design. 

This is one of my big QA pet peeves -- getting it through the programmers' heads that the USER interface is designed for the USERS, not for programmers, and that if it looks clunky and has a counter-intuitive layout, they will hate it, and it will make the company look A) dumb and B) like we don't give a rat's patootie about them.

Yeah, March 17th is Muay Thai day.  LOL, that was supposed to be my first day in the fight class, but my ear infection intervened.  I kind of grumbled internally about that, but kept it to myself to avoid sounding like a whiny little prat.  IMO, it was the Universe's gentle way of reminding me not to push too hard, too fast.  It was a big jump from 0 days a week of training to 2/3; I was planning to jump from there to six, so maybe a median jump to 4 is in the works first.

Also, I'm glad to know I'm not the only person who is like, "MT is KILLERMACHODINOSAUR?  Really?"  I mean, I know the guys and girls who do it professionally definitely qualify, but ... yeah.  Maybe it's just that it's so freaking fun.  Or maybe I really am a masochist, LOL.

In other LULz, I'm with you on BJJ.  It's in my "I want to do it SOMEDAY" camp, because right now I don't have the stamina and I don't really like being touched by strangers.

Come to think of it, that's kind of weird.  I don't mind being punched or kicked by people I don't know, but somehow the idea of "combat cuddling" is a bit beyond me right now, LOL!  Though the clinch work we did on Saturday felt, at times, a little like a very, very aggressive form of ballroom dancing :D

Hrm -- yeah, LOL on the women's kickboxing class during the day being potentially geared towards housewives.  I've noticed a lot of places do that with women's classes (Core doesn't bother with men's/women's classes -- I think they figure if you've got the rocks to show up, it doesn't really matter how your actual rocks are configured).  I'm also surprised that there are MMA gyms that are "just guys" -- nobody complains when we get new girls at Core, LOL, and everyone thinks it's great when they join the serious classes. 

I guess there might be some guys who haven't been kicked by enough girls to realize that training with the ladies has plenty of value.  IMO, women who do get seriously into arts like MT seem to train seriously hard and are often quicker and more accurate than the guys, so I wouldn't hesitate to train with a girl.  OTOH, I totally understand the existence of places like Curves and 'Cutz,' which is a men's equivalent -- it reduces a lot of the self-consciousness factor for a lot of people -- but those people are not, generally, the same people who are going to walk into an MMA or MT gym and say, "O hai, I want to sign up to get pummeled on a semi-daily basis," LOL.

I somehow doubt you'll give up on sparring after getting clocked, LOL!  I have a feeling you'll give just as good as you get :D  I think there's a certain spirit that goes with it -- there are those of us who get hit and go, "Oh, hit me, will you?  Let's see how hard I can hit you back!" and I think we're most of the people who wind up in this kind of art.

Well, I guess I should go do some work :::sigh:::  We've been pretty slow of late, too, but it looks like we can expect things to start picking up again.  My company's in the process of picking up some big new clients, so we'll be tuning up stuff for them, which should mean we'll be fairly busy year-round.  Right now, our major product is tax-related, so we have intense workloads through fall and winter, then longish down periods in the spring and early summer -- but the clients we're picking up will be related to our more minor product, which is a year-round kind of program.

I'm going to close for now :)  I hope you had a good walk, and I hope you have a good evening!

Oh that's funny that you changed your mind and went to class.  If I got one of those disappointing looks I would've gone too.  LOL.  Well at least Brian inspired you to go and it turned out ok.  I know I always feel better after class, even if I'm not feeling up to par. You'll have to let me know how your fight class is tonight.

Yeah i wouldn't be too eager to go up against one of those 5'3" brick houses.  I have a pretty high tolerance for pain too, probably goes hand in hand with my high tolerance for drugs.  If the drugs don't take away pain, then you are just left to deal with it.  I've been through a lot of health problems so I'm used to pain I guess.

It's funny how MA are viewed as violence.  But, when I used to see cagefighting on tv i would think the same thing.  I see the skill in it now and I get it.  You're right, you can't buy endurance, you have to work for it. I think you totally get out of it what you put in. It is cheap, when I break it down, its only about 11/12 a class (or less if i go more, certainly not 4.50 though, that's awesome) and I so would not want to join a gym.  I joined a gym once when I was younger and I couldn't stand the muscle heads and the girls who fan themselves (I can't seem to get away from them).  I can't stand the dynamic of it.  That's great the price you pay with all those ammenities, that's cheap.  Every place around here is about $150 a month.  I haven't seen any place cheaper or more, they are all the same price, at least its consistent.  The one place i found that seems similar to your place was $150 a month too.  And its great exercise, probably better than a gym unless you had a personal trainer pushing your butt every day.

Haha LUL about the BJJ.  Its funny how its okay to be punched but you question the 'combat cuddling', i agree, it's one of those things that when you say it out loud it sounds stupid, 'yeah i don't mind getting punched in the face but i don't want somebody to sit on my chest and choke me' huh?  Clinching can get a little personal too.  A lot of these self defense moves we learn (which is separate from MT) you can get a little personal, especially when you are all sweaty.  I personally don't care, but i can imagine that the girl who fans herself during class may have a problem with this.   I think its hysterical that she fans herself.  She's a nice person ...  But, maybe this is why they have segregated classes.  Well it sounds like your place is so specific with the MMA that the only people that are going to go are serious people.  My place isn't like that, I would like a place like that, I would probably go every day and end up divorced, haha.  The guys I go to class with all think I'm an animal (that's one of my nicknames, animal, killer, bad to the bone, wonder woman, i've heard plenty) so they like to talk smack to me, its funny.  I don't think they'd go easy on me at this point, maybe in the beginning but not now. 

I don't think I'd give up sparring if i got clocked either.  I think I would absolutely think 'i'm going to hit you harder', there's definately a certain spirit that goes with it.

Another slow day here, but with graphics everything needs to be done yesterday so we'll see what the day brings.  That's funny that you program and actually think of the user.  I just upgraded one of my graphic programs (quark) and they changed the interface so much that it's a bit confusing in parts.  My fellow graphic artist and I keep having these minor problems because we can't find things!  Plus, we are the only people who use these graphic programs and a Mac so we are kind of on our own.  Not to mention that just about EVERYTHING is blocked on the internet, so you can barely investigage the problem.  I'm glad this site isn't blocked, it keeps me somewhat awake.

I see your dilemna WRT gay culture.  It has to be hard if you are not into the scene plus the fact that you won't be home a lot.  I see your point....  Funny thought about the wedding registry.  Wouldn't that be cool if you met somebody there, you never know.....  How funny would that be if you could register at the mma warehouse or something

Well it looks like rain here today, i might not be walking today.

"'yeah i don't mind getting punched in the face but i don't want somebody to sit on my chest and choke me' huh?"

ROFL!  OMG, this seriously made me LOL!!!!  Yeah, that's about it right there.  I think it's funny that there are all these straight guys that are like, "I don't wanna get punched in the face," and here I am, this little gay dude, and I'm like, "I don't want some guy all wrapped around me and stuff!"  LOL, you know, you would think it would be the other way around...

Yeah, clinching can indeed get a little personal ... during last Saturday's sparring class, I kept wondering when they were going to serve cocktails, what with all the dancing, LOL.  And I definitely see what you mean -- the 'ppl that fan themselves' section of the population probably isn't all that keen on getting up close and personal with teh sw34ty!

I totally agree with you about gyms.  I hemmed and hawed about joining one for a while, b/c it's a good idea for me to have somewhere I can exercise indoors -- Core solved that problem for me, LOL.  It really is dirt cheap, too, all things considered.  There are a couple of places around here that cost about the same or a little less, but I think Core has more going for it in terms of staff and facilities. 

A membership to any normal gym would, for me, be a total waste of money, LOL.  I wouldn't go -- in part because of the Muscleheads and Fan-Folks, but also because I would simply get bored, LOL!  And, yeah, I don't know anyone who goes to a regular gym who gets the kind of results I'm getting training Muay Thai, that's for damn sure.  You weren't kidding about starting to see cuts in your arms and legs after about three weeks or so.  I can't wait to see myself in a year!  :D

Part of it is the relatively lower cost of living around here -- Louisville real estate is waaaaaay cheap compared to any part of Jersey and the surrounding area -- but I think the level of instruction at the price also owes to the fact that the guy who owns the gym is pretty much independently wealthy and runs it for love. 

Theoretically, Core could make no money at all and remain open -- but as long as Rolando hooks up with awesome trainers and loves the sport, I doubt that will ever happen, LOL.  It is, indeed, very MMA specific -- there are a couple people who just come to work out in the fitness center or just do bag class, but they're inevitably parents or significant-others of people who train there.  I do think that has a lot do to with the focus of the people who train here (that and the full name of the facility, which is 'Core Combat Sports,' LOL; they might as well put, "Wanna get punched in the face?" on their sign).

LOL -- I hear you about the whole going every day and ending up divorced thing!  Even my room mate gets pissed that I'm never home, and it's not even like we're dating or anything.  This is why I need to find myself a nice MMA guy to date, LOL.  It would be cool to be able to be like, "Yeah, you go do your combat cuddling, and I'll be over here kicking people in the head, and we can go get dinner when we're done."

BTW, I so hear you about interface changes.  Office 2007 makes me want to smack someone.  Our poor boss was trying to give a presentation today, and it took him like 5 minutes to figure out how to update a style in Word.  Argh.  It also definitely sucks to be the only Mac people in a given place (even though Macs rock).

I'm also glad CC isn't blocked in your office!  Thus far, we're pretty open except for webmail (because some moron dled a virus), games, and the obviously non-work-safe stuff.  I can even indulge my shameful addiction to ICanHasCheezburger and FailBlog :::sigh:::

Congrats on your upcoming belt promotion!  Yeah, it couldn't hurt to check thigns out at the other gym -- though it's also cool that there are some guys who are interested in sparring (and don't fan themselves, LOL!).

Oh, speaking of guys who don't fan themselves, I finally learned Train's proper name, which is Troy.  He doesn't seem like a Troy, LOL.

LOL!  Yeah that's funny, you would think it would be the other way around with the grappling!! 

I hear you about the gym, i would find it boring unless i had somebody telling me what i needed to do.  I'm not even sure what a gym in my area would cost. I have stuff at home that i use, bo-flex, elliptical, recumbent bike, punching bag, and lots of work out dvds that i can't use anymore because i barely break a sweat (except P90X)!  Cool about the cuts in your arms and stuff, it really doesn't take long!  I think the back muscles took a little longer or i just didn't look for a while.  I'm still amazed at all the muscles i have and it's been a year already, goes quick! 

I think the cost of living is lower just about everywhere but here. I think NJ is the highest for real estate taxes and insurance.  It's crazy! 

That's cool that the Core owner runs it for the love of it.  That'd be cool if you met somebody and you could work out at the same place, that would solve the never being home problem for sure.  My husband plays in a band and he has practice 2-3 times a week and i go to kickboxing 3 times so we miss each other a lot during the week. 

OMG Office 07, which i just got about a month ago, totally messed with me.  I couldn't figure out how to print, took me a few minutes to find it, I actually felt so stupid.  Then i was talking to my sister and she was saying the same exact thing that she couldn't figure out how to print.  The interface is a bit different.  I have Office 08 for the Mac which is nothing like the PC version, its more like the old office version which still had words and not all those icons.  My husband works in IT and his company is going to upgrade so he has to learn how to use it before everybody calls and asks how to do things.  I grew up using PC but when i went to school for graphics i learned the mac and never really took to it.  When i got this job and had the mac forced upon me for everday use i was resistent.  Hated the mac.  Now, though, I have come to love the mac.   I still don't like mac for doing internet stuff.  The browsers just don't work the same, and I really like outlook for email, not a fan of the mac email programs.  So now i still have my handy pc at home but last year i bought a mac mini (i share the monitor with a switch) so i have both at home too.  i also do side work from home.  i do drug inserts for one company (you know that big piece of paper that is folded into a lighter sized bundle that you find in your prescription bottle that tells you that the side effects include, your kidney falling out or death).  I also do side work for a small gaming company where I  layout game manuals.  Last year i did 2 games but about 4 or 5 manuals, i actually have to do bi-lingual manuals Eng/French for Canada plus different formats, like wii and ps2. It was really busy last year, but i'm afraid this year with the recession won't be so good.  So I've been converted into a mac fan.  I like both, they both have their place. 

Well today i got to work and msnbc was blocked, in addition to my online banking site - WTFF!  I'm hoping their websense program just isn't working properly (wishful thinking anyway).  I might have to buy an air card or something.  This is ridiculous, although amazon and cc work for now.  I can't imagine how boring my day will become without this site.  I may have to start working on my Bejeweled skills.  you won't believe what they block here, its pretty much everything.  its ridiculous but what can you do... it is work, right?! hahaha  (WAAAAAA - big baby i am without my internet)

So how was your first fight class!?

Now Troy sounds like it would fit him (w/o seeing him of course).  Troy reminds me of a guy that should be built like a train, tan with bulging muscles.  Maybe he'd like to be called Train instead!

LOL about Troy -- it's funny, the only guy I knew growing up named 'Troy' is now my default mental image of what a 'Troy' looks like, and he was your average sleek, blond WASP :D  I would say "not the kind of guy you normally expect to find doing Muay Thai," except that would be somewhat hypocritical :)  My looks are on the WASPish side as well, LOL.

Train Troy is big and kinda tan, but he's also a little overweight.  OTOH, I'm a little overweight, so it's all good :)  He boxes on Tuesday and Thursday -- 'splains why his punches are so sharp, LOL!

Fight class rocked!  I had a blast.  The instructor, Jay, is awesome.  I wrote a long blog about it in my journal, so I guess I won't blather about all the details, but it was much fun.  Jay liked my push kicks.  Yeay!  I am looking forward to continuing to roll with the T/Th class (though I do need to buy some shin guards -- they have some loaners I can use 'til I get mine).

I'm starting to loosen up more, which is a nice change from my prior ultra-tense style, and my hook sucks marginally less than it did a week ago, LOL.

I wish you had a place like Core too!!!  I <3 Core hard.  I hear you about the more MMA-oriented places -- a lot of them seem to kind of stress teh grapplinz.  I have no problem with grappling (aside from the aforementioned aversion to combat cuddling with guys I barely know, LOL); I just want to focus on the Muay Thai.

It seems like the popularity of the various super-effective styles that show up in MMA fights rises and falls by the success of the fighters -- so if grapplers are winning a lot, BJJ gets more popular, and if strikers are winning a lot, Muay Thai takse off...  Of course, it's hard to argue with the idea that if you're going to fight MMA, or even find yourself in a bar fight or whatever, grappling is a necessary skill -- but, darn it, some of us want to stay on our feet so we can kick people! :)  The MMA place that does nothing but MMA doesn't sound like it would be a great fit, unless they have a bunch of strikers (in our MMA group, 'primarily grapplers' outnumber 'primarily strikers' like 4 to 1, LOL).

BTW, I think it's funny that you mentioned putting eyes and a nose on your bag, LOL -- my old TKD dojang had one Wavemaster that someone had drawn a face on, and I used to get a kick out of it (uh ... no pun intended).  It looked like it had indigestion or something!

Brian said he knows of a good gym in Jersey, but I'm not sure how close it is to where you live.  I will ask him again, b/c I don't remember who runs it, but it's someone worth knowing about, LOL.

I'm kind of surprised that we have this weird little Muay Thai enclave here, LOL.  Like Eric Haycraft -- he's affiliated with my gym, and runs his own gym as well, which is pretty much 100% Muay Thai at the moment.  His team trains out of his gym and core, and they're good.  They put in a good showing at the '08 Muay Thai Classic.

Your side jobs sound pretty cool!  I wonder if I have any of your work in my medicine cabinet?  I also think it's cool that the game manuals you did are in Canada and the States -- that's pretty awesome.  And I totally agree that both Mac and Windoze (and Linux) have their place -- I draw comics (though I haven't put anything out in ages ... I really ought to get my butt in gear and throw together something short and stick it on the web) and I miss having a Mac to do graphics work on.

As for email clients ... LOL, IMO, they're all about equally bad.  Outlook is a security disaster pretty much all the time, but the one we have here (Novell Groupwise) is simply dumb.  It's another example of stunningly bad interface design.  It has the single worst filter/search function I've ever seen in an email program.  I definitely think mail clients have their place in a corporate environment -- but, jeez.  Groupwise is horrible.

I so hear you about Office07.  I use keycommands for most things, but there are a few things that I do with the toolbars and whatever -- and I can never find anything in '07.  The interface is not really intuitive -- like, I don't think it's actually based on the way people really work.  '03 did pretty well in that department, but, of course, being Microsoft, they couldn't leave well enough alone, LOL.

I would, btw, also have to cry if my work took my internets away.  If there's one thing I can't handle, it's being bored.  I felt bad for the contractors we brought in when we were in a big crunch -- they couldn't get to just about anything.  When it gets really slow around here, I think I'd go crazy without access to CC.

It sounds like you and your hubby have some pretty challenging schedules, though it's really cool that he plays in a band!  OTOH, it sounds like you guys talk to each-other and have a good relationship.  Do your gym schedule and his band schedule sync up at all?  That would be convenient, LOL.

It also sounds like you've got a pretty good home gym going.  I think after I move to a less expensive place I might drop some money into stuff like a heavy bag or a wavemaster, some weights, and a stationary bike.  I'm also thinking about trying P90X, though part of me thinks I'm going to kill myself with overtraining if I do that, LOL. 

Is bo-flex as good as it's supposed to be?  They look like they make sense, and I've always wanted to try one, but (being your typical, skeptical Yankee by heritage) I want to either try it out before I think about buying one -- or at least get a review from someone whose opinion I respect (you count!).

LOL, I totally hear you about being amazed by muscles ... I recently discovered that there are actually muscles in my forearms, and not just tendons and pudge :D  I was like, "OMFG!" and now I sit here at my desk poking my arms because I'm pathetic like that :D  I still have Sumo calves, but they're not as bad as they were.  I can't for the life of me figure out what my calves are so freaking huge, but at least they're getting smaller now (and more defined).

NJ is definitely up there in terms of real estate taxes and insurance ... CT is pretty high, too, at least as far as taxes (not sure about insurance).  Really, anywhere within a couple hours of NY and Boston you get that metropolitan area effect -- and since NY and Boston are so freaking huge, it's a big impact.  Here, Louisville is the metro, and you can drive across it in maybe half an hour to 45 mins. 

We also don't have as much in the way of outlying suburbs, though Lexington is sprawl-tastic.  There's a tiny downtown with some nice old buildings and U of K, and then it's mostly jillions of little brick ranch houses interspersed with McMansions on into infinity.  OTOH, when I lived there, I could bike from the center of the city to the heart of bluegrass horse farm country in under an hour, so I guess in truth it's less sprawly than it could be.  I just hate seeing historic and irreplaceable Bluegrass farms being divided up into poorly-designed, pedestrian-unfriendly, land-wasting subdivisions (LOL, not bitter, am I?).

Okay, I just flat ran out of steam, so I'm going to go take a break, make some iced tea, and close for now :)

Edit:  Oh, BTW -- love your Snoopy "FIGHT" avatar!  LOL

I'm glad you liked your first fight class, sounds great!  That's cool that your push kicks are coming along so quickly too!   Glad you're starting to loosen up too. 

HaHa, I love core too, and I don't even go there!! Oh, definately let me know what gym Brian is talking about, I guarantee that its not close to me, but I have been compiling of list of places in NJ.  I like to know what's around, plus I can see if any of these other gyms have smokers, etc. 

The side jobs are pretty cool.  I don't think you'll have any of my work in your med cabinet.  The company I do the drug inserts for makes bone products.  So if you somehow found a hole in your skull, these people make a bone product that would fill in the hole with actual bone.  They make a bunch of different things to help repair and mend bones....its pretty cool!  The game manuals are cool, its funny seeing my name in the manual, but its definately good for the resume.  You should definately draw your comics.  Mac is good for graphics, PC is ok but you really need a lot of ram for it to work as good as the Mac. 

I know that Outlook is a security disaster and quite frankly I hate all the mail clients, I've tried a bunch of different ones.  This is going to sound funny but I have a much luck with gmail.  Gmail has the best spam filter.  What i do now is have all my email go through Gmail and then forward a copy into my Outlook, otherwise i get 10 million junk mail a day (ok i'm exaggerating a bit) but yes they have the worst filtering system.  I even changed the setting with the web hosting account to try and filter more but that didn't work.  The only thing I like about Outlook is the organization of it, the color coding and stuff like that, but the filtering is by far the worst ever! So right now I'm having a lot of luck with this Gmail method of mail, and i don't bog my computer down with all the junk mail it's all on the gmail server.

I liked Office 03, I wish they kept it somewhat the same, i can see adding those little picture icons and crap but why get rid of the menu that everybody is used to?  Doesn't make sense.   It's funny the other day my father asked me about trying out a beta version of the new IE browser.  I said 'Microsoft' and 'beta' - NEVER!!  haha

I would definately go crazy without internet.  I'm actually lucky I am able to get the blocked internet at all.  Most people don't get any internet.  The only reason I have it is because I need it for my job (i hope they don't check out my MT searches...yikes!) to get Mac updates and look up images and crap for my job, otherwise I'd have nada!

The P90X is hard.  My husband actually got burn out from doing it, he also knows somebody at work who had the same problem.  The dvd's are good but I think it's a lot when you try to do the whole program.  Every  now and again I pull one out (love plyometrics, its an ass kicker though) and do it.  I like the bo-flex.  I used to use one of those cheap Weider weight benches, which was great at the time.  So I wasn't really interested in going to the bo-flex.  I have since changed my tune.  The bo-flex can do a lot of different exercises.  This thing is about 8 yrs old and if something breaks, you just call up bo-flex and they send you the part.  So I would definately recommend it.  We still have real weights too, a set of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 hand set.  Great addition to the bo-flex.  The only thing that I don't like is that it's huge.  They say it folds up, and you can put it in the corner....bull crap.  Its huge.  The bench folds up, yes, but it's still big and bulky.  That's the only down side.  I love it and would definately get another one.

I am still amazed by my muscles.  I have so many muscles in places that I didn't know you could get muscles!  I love the forearms muscles too, they are cool! Love the cuts in my calves too, and don't forget the abs...OMG! 

I think I may have to skip class tonight.  I went to class on Saturday, and it was ok, nothing spectacular.  Then I got home, moved, and pulled a muscle in my hip which now has moved to my lower back.  I've been resting but probably safer to skip class today so I can be good for wednesday.  I just found a cool site, mymuaythai.com, just some guy who posts a bunch of different info, I spent a couple hours there this morning, pretty cool.  OH, I also checked out the hundredpushups.com website which I am going to try.  I would love to do 100 consecutive good form pushups.  I can do the bad form push ups no problem! haha

I'm a big snoopy fan so I was looking for some cool snoopy with boxing gloves.  That pic was actually a t-shirt that said 'fight pollution',  so i cropped it and came up with fight....i think its was pretty cool!!

Well happy monday, its happy for me, i called in sick today!!

I'll ask Brian about the gym he mentioned in NJ on Tuesday (or if I see him later today) :)  He wasn't in class on Saturday due to something basketball-related, LOL.

Wow, the bone medications fascinating!  You're right, though, I probably don't have any hanging around in my medicine cabinet :D  I'm going to have to look up bone-mending medications.  I so <3 science, especially medical science :D

LOL -- I know what you mean about seeing your name in something.  I wrote an essay a while ago that was published as part of a grad student's Master's or Doctoral thesis (I forget which ... eep!), and it's still out there in print, and every now and then I'll run across it and be all like, "Oh hai, that's me!"  I have the same sort of response when I run across the names of people I know (or grew up with) in print.  It's bizarre.

I hear you about PCs requiring buttloads of RAM to be worth anything for graphics.  My poor notebook struggles with lil' old Photoshop 7; I wouldn't dare try to render 3D stuffs with it.  The poor thing has Vista, and I can't effectively 'Upgrade to XP' (LOL), because it's pretty new and some of the components don't have XP drivers.  I could use generic drivers, but it would mean taking a hit to the performance level, which would defeat the point, LOL.

I love Gmail, personally :D  The only thing I don't like about it is that they took the 'Search, don't sort' idea a little too far -- I want to search and sort, LOL.  I will say, you do point out Outlook's good qualities very precisely :)  And I think your method of filtering via Gmail is simply brilliant!

I hear you on the Office 07 thing -- that's what bugs me, too.  The icons are fine, but I want the menus as well.  LOL -- and I'm so with you on never beta-testing an MS product!  Before IE7 came out, we had a bunch of idiots trying to beta-test it when they needed their browsers for business-critical applications ... needless to say, they were startled to learn that suddenly stuff didn't work for them :::sigh:::  They wound up having to roll back to IE6, which is a deeply irritating process.  This year, we expressly requested that our clients who use the web for any business-related functions (only some do) hold off beta-testing new browsers (and advised them that we won't and, more importantly, can't support beta versions of anything).

LOL -- I hear you on having 'business need' for internets.  I think that's why we have them, though our policy here seems to be surprisingly liberal (it used to be much tighter, in fact).  I rely heavily on sites like w3schools.com and tizag.com for those, "Oh, crap!  I forgot how to SELECT a record in SQL!" moments (if you know any SQL, by the way, that's a joke :D).  Without them, I don't think I could do my job.  Okay, without them ... and CalorieCount ... and NYTimes ... and sometimes Ringside.com ... and ... er ... yeah ... I'm sure there's some valid business reason I should be looking at the Thai Boxing Association of the USA...

Oh, yah -- plyometrics rocks!  I've learned one thing about Core: if it doesn't work, Core doesn't teach it, and they're bringing in a Plyometrics class, so it must work, LOL!  We also apparently annexed the only effective Judo school in Louisville, so now we have Judo program, too.  I like watching the Judo guys (admittedly, this is more or less because 3 of them have t3h s3xy).

I have now had several ppl tell me to try P90X, and I think I'm going to, once I get a DVD player for the downstairs TV (working out in the loft would be nigh impossible!).

Hrm -- the bo-flex actually sounds pretty cool.  I like that they support their customers!  I think I will have to wait 'til I get a place where I have space enough for a dedicated workout room or something, though, LOL!  (Which is fine, because the less heavy stuff I have to move in August, the better.)

LOL, the muscles-in-places-you-didn't-know-you-could-g et-muscles thing is so dead on!  And I hear you about the abs.  Mine are still invisible (I am pudge-tastic), but are way harder than they used to be.  Actually, I shouldn't say I'm pudge-tastic ... I'm less pudge-tastic by far than before.  I actually wore shorts this weekend -- outside of the gym, even!!!  I never, ever wear shorts (because of my weirdness about my Sumo Calves, which seem less sumo-esque every week) -- in fact, this is the first time I have worn shorts for something other than exercise or swimming since I was in 8th grade (and in 8th grade, I was so ridiculously skinny even my calves were skinny, LOL).

LOL, I think your Snoppy icon came out beautifully!  ...Now he just needs some Muay Thai hot-pants, LOL.

I definitely think resting tonight might not be a bad idea.  Those pulled muscles that telegraph to other parts can be nasty!

Oh, one more thing.  This amused me.

So I get to the gym a million years early on Saturday, get changed for class, then stand there wrapping my hands for like a billion years (I'm getting better, but I'm still freakin' slow).  Finally, Troy and a couple of the girls from class show up.  We're standing around watching some boxers and semi-pro guys do their thang, and talking about class and the different approaches of different teachers.  Another one of the ladies shows up and asks if there's a class on Friday nights.

There isn't, and various people expound on their theories as to why (mostly: "Nobody would show up," to which I always respond, "I would!").

Finally, Troy says, "I definitely need something to do every day.  If I skip a day or two, I go crazy.  It makes me feel fat."

LOL.

Until then, I thought that was just me.